Many businesses and other enterprises use a variety of computer systems that are specially adapted for certain purposes. For example, a manufacturing division of an enterprise may use one kind of computer system specifically designed to handle manufacturing data while the sales division of the same enterprise may use another kind of system for sales information. The engineering division of the enterprise may use an entirely different computer system as well. Using different computer systems for different divisions of an enterprise makes sense because each kind of computer system will provide certain strengths that suit that division.
Although different divisions within an enterprise may use different computer systems, there are advantages to sharing data across an entire enterprise. For example, an individual in the sales division may need to know the current inventory levels for a product in the manufacturing division to determine what price should be set for the product. One solution to this problem is to provide hard copies of reports from different divisions of an enterprise to certain key individuals in the enterprise. This procedure is disadvantageous because it can overwhelm an individual with much more information than the individual needs and because the data in the hard copies of the report can be out of date by the time that the individual reviews it. Another solution to this problem is to use emulator computers that allow an individual to use a single computer to access more than one computer system. This procedure is also disadvantageous because the individual is required to learn a new interface and a new computer language for each computer system that he is to access. Thus, there is a need for an enterprise-wide computer system that can connect to a variety of computer systems, retrieve data from these systems, and present data to an individual in a standardized, easy-to-learn format.
Disclosed herein is an enterprise-wide computer system designed to be connected to a variety of different computers systems within the enterprise. The computer system uses a portal architecture to allow a user to view a wide variety of content retrieved from a variety of different computer systems. The computer system may also be referred to as a portal system. The portal system is configured such that a plurality of users can access the system at the same time through a computer network such as the Internet. The portal system may also be connected to one or more back-end databases that correspond to the different computer systems within the enterprise. The portal system is scalable because many of its components are modular and can be readily duplicated as redundant processors. In this manner, small enterprises and large enterprises may be accommodated by different versions of the same portal system. In one aspect, the portal system acts as a middle-ware program that converts the data and reports from the variety of back-end databases and presents the data to a user in a standardized format. Data is provided to users by the portal system in a format that is readable by a browser program. Thus, by allowing a user to use a standard browser program as a user interface, the user""s learning curve for the portal is greatly reduced. In particular, the user will be able to select reports and data for viewing by pointing at an item with his mouse and selecting a hyperlink.
In addition to converting data from back-end databases into a standardized format for a user, the portal system may be configured to run predefined jobs to process data. These jobs are stored within the portal system in a computer memory device called a repository. These jobs can perform a variety of tasks such as retrieving data from a back-end database, preparing a report based upon retrieved data, processing data already resident within the portal system, or notifying a user when a particular condition occurs within the portal system. These jobs can be executed on a predefined schedule or on an ad-hoc basis at the request of a user. When a job is executed on a predefined schedule, the output report of the job will often be stored in the repository so that it can be retrieved at a later time. When a job is performed on an ad-hoc basis, the output report will generally be provided to the user immediately through his browser interface. If a job is of particular interest to a user, then the portal system allows a user to subscribe to the job. A subscription will send a notification to the user whenever the job is executed by the portal system. The portal system also allows a user to configure one or more exception conditions for a job that indicate when some element of the output report is outside of a predefined range. A user can subscribe to job exceptions and thus be notified when these exceptions occur.
The portal system presents data to a user in an object called a portal page. The portal page is an object arranged in a format that is readable by a browser program. The portal page is a highly configurable document that may be comprised of a plurality of modules called portal objects. Each portal object may contain a set of links corresponding to output reports, jobs, or other objects stored within the repository. Thus, by clicking on one of the links in a portal object, the portal system will process the object corresponding to that link. If the link is directed to a job stored within the portal system, then clicking on that job will cause the job to be executed. If the link is directed to a browsable object stored within the repository, then that object will be displayed to the user. A portal page may also include a display window that can display browsable objects to a user. Another feature of the portal page is a dynamically updated portal object. A dynamically updated portal object is an object that is updated on the user""s portal page based upon data stored in the portal system. If a dynamically updated portal object is included within a user""s portal page, the user may receive the latest information corresponding to that object by refreshing his portal page. For example, if the dynamically updated portal object is linked to the output report of a job, then the portal object will display the latest version of the output report to the user when the portal page is refreshed. A dynamically updated portal object may also be hyperlinked to its corresponding object in the portal system such that a user may view, edit, or execute the corresponding object by clicking on the dynamically updated portal object at the user interface.
Each user""s portal page may be customized to suit that user""s specific needs. A user may add or remove portal objects from his portal page at his discretion. A user may also edit some portal objects in order to add links to reports or objects that the user is interested in. Another way in which a user can customize his portal page is to add and modify xe2x80x9cfavoritesxe2x80x9d on the portal page. A user""s favorites is a set of links to objects stored in the repository, on an intranet, or on the Internet. These objects may be jobs, reports, or any other kind of data. By clicking one of these links, the corresponding object is presented in the display window.
The portal system may also be configured to conduct searches on behalf of a user. The portal system provides the ability to search both structured data (databases, XML, formatted text, etc.) and unstructured data (HTML files, web-based content, PDF files, etc.) at locations inside and outside the portal. The portal system 120 also allows the user to configure the searches so that only certain objects, in certain locations are searched. By using these search parameters, a user can streamline a search to identify only highly relevant data. This increases the efficiency of the search and reduces the likelihood of identifying undesired results. If a user constructs a search that produces particularly relevant results, then the user may save those search parameters as a channel. The user can return to this channel at a later date to conduct the same search to see if any new objects have been identified. A list of channels stored by a user may be included in a user""s portal page, allowing him access to search results by simply clicking on the appropriate channel link.